0(L 






Book. C '/3 K ^5 



ONEL LAIBERT CADWALADER 



TKENTON, NEW JERSEY. 



■Jju WiW'iarq H e.i^T >j "^■aw\ 4. 






This sketcli wa?* written at the request of the editor of some forth- 
coming memi)irs of the New Jersey officers of the Revolutionary 
army, and a few copies have been privately printed. 

Philadelphia, June, 1878. 



(oi. LAMiiEirr cai)Waladi<:k, 

OF TKKXTOX, NEW .1KI;S1;Y. 



The paternal eiiiig-ratiiig ancestor ol' Ijainhert f 'adwalader 
was liis (grandfather, John Cadwahidor, whi>, after Iii.s arrival 
here, jiiiiied one of the settlements of liis ^\\'lsli coniilrynien near 
Merlon, a few miles west of Philadeliiliia. He is saiil to have 
been a man of hij^h character ami much litei'ary culture. His 
marriage, in 1699, to Martha Jones, appears among the records 
of tlie Radnor Monthly Meeting, and the names of those who, 
according to the custom of Friends, subscribed the record as 
witnesses, entiuently suggest all that was Welsh in their parentage. 

The father of ]\Irs. Cadwalader was Doctor Edward Jones, an 
emigrant from Merionethshire. Pier mother was the daughter 
of Doctor Thomas Wynne, "sometime of Cacrwys, Flintshire, 
South Wales, chirurgoon," who, an eminent and successful 
physician hijth at his home and in London, had come over with 
Penn in thi_" Welcome, was made Speaker of the iirst Provincial 
Assembly held at Philadelphia, and was, Proud tells us, a 
preacher among the (Quakers, a person of liote and good charac- 
ter, and an author in defense of his sect. 

From Merion, John Cadwalader removed to Pliiladelphia. 
In July, 1705, he was admitted a freeman of the citv ; in ( )cto- 
ber, 1718, he was elected a member of Common Council, and in 
1729, a member of the Provincial Assembly, which offices he 
lield until his deatii in 1733. 

His children were four — three daughters, and one sou, 

Thomas Cadwalader. 

(.3) 



Tlie son, wlio was born in the year 1707, adopted the profes- 
sion of his maternal grandfatlier. He be^-an iiis medical 
education at his home, and, what was at tiiat early day more 
iiiiiHual than it afterwards b(>eame, completed it in London. He 
returnrd to Philadel[)hia, rose t(j jirofessional eminence, and in 
1738 was married, in Trenton, "after tiie manner of the people 
called Quakers and according to the good order used among 
them," to Hannah, daughter of Tliomas Lambert, " late of the 
county of Burlington, in the western division of New Jersey, 
deceased," and the names of Andrew Hamilton, John Dag- 
worthy, Thomas Hopkinson, Owen Jones, and a score of others 
are found upon the record as relatives or friends of the con- 
tracting jiarties. 

x\fter his marriage, he made Trenton, at least for a time, his 
homo. He became a large laud-owner in ami near the town, 
and in 174S was elected its lirst chief burgess after it had re- 
ceived its borough charter. In 1700, he oifered large quantities 
of his laud for sale, and returned to Philadelphia. There he 
was chosen a member of the Governor's Council (an office held 
only by those foremost in the colony), and so continued uutil the 
fall of the proprietary government in 177fj. 

From the beginning of the troubles l>etween the c(jlony and 
its parent to the day of his death in 1779, his patriotism and 
devotion to the country of his birth was unswerving. Of his 
liberal education — his professional eminence — his prominence as 
a citizen both in Trenton and Philadelphia — -his energy in start- 
ing and f )sti'riug institutions which are to this day among the 
best in the huid — his social intimacy with the lirst men of his 
time — his public spirit — his gentle, courteous manners and his 
great personal coolness and courage, there is much wdiich is both 
matter of histor)' and tradition. 

Of the seven children of Doctor Tliomas Cadwalader, two 
were sous; John, the distinguished general otKcer of the revolu- 
tionary army, ami Lambert, the sidf)ect of this sketch. 



Lanil)pi'( Cadwaladcr wa^ l)orn in Trenton in flic vcar 1712. 
Both the hrotliiT.-: rcccivi'd at I'liilailclpliia, al'tiT llirii- liitlici-'s 
removal there, a tine literary an<! classical eiliicatioii. Al'ti'r they 
grew ii|i, the first record of the stand which afterwards distin- 
guished tliem is their signatnrc near tliat of their iiither, 
to tlie Non-Iniporhifidii Agreement of 176o. Of Ijamhert's 
intense feeling upon what was liecomiiig the great political 
question of the time, sonietiiing may ho judged ti'om his letter 
in the following year to his friend, George ^lorgan, afterwards a 
distinguished officer in our army. 

"I have now," ho wroto, on INfay ISth, 176(5, "the ])Ieasure 
of commuuieating to you the Joyful news of the repeal of tlie 
stamp act; news that almost calls hack youth to the agHHJ, gives 
health and vigi>iir to the sick and infirm. The act to repeal the 
stamp act received the royal assent on the 18th Man'li, and a 
copy was brought here in a vessel from Poole. If ever tlie 
Americans should fall into paganism, place dead men among 
their gods and worship them, there is .scarce any one that will 
have a better ehancc of being enrolled in the number of them 
than Mr. Pitt. This great man, by his abilities, virtues and 
extraordinary courage, lias gained a iicvor-dvinti' name. ''' * 

America is again free! God bless her; long may she remain 
so. As to the act asserting the right of Parliament to ta.\ the 
colonies, we shall regard it as waste pa[)er. Let us only enjoy 
liberty but half a century longer, and we will dcfv the j)0wcr of 
England to enslave us." 

The country had not to wait so long. Within less than eisrht 
years, the day on which the Boston Port Bill was to take etfect 
was observed throughout tiie continent as one of fasting, humili- 
ation and prayer, "to implore the Divine intcrlerenco to avert 
the heavy calamity which threatened destruction to their civil 
rights, and the evils of civil war, and," in the same breath, " to 
give one heart and one mind to the people, firmly to oppose 
every invasion of their liberties." 



6 

Wliat followed is trite history. Boston's hope for aid and 
couitort from Pennsylvania was fiimiled. (Idvernor Penn de- 
clined to convene the Assembly, and the people acted withont 
it. The committee to correspond with the other counties and 
provinces led to the convention which met at Philadelphia in 
July, 1774, and this to the Congress of Delegates and the Com- 
mittee of Superintciulenco and Correspondence. To the last, both 
John and Lambert Cadwalader were sent from Philadelphia. 
The latter was also a member of the Provincial Convention which 
met the next January. To the call to arms which rang through 
the land after the tidings of the battle of Lexington, both 
brothers promptly responded. The indignant people who met 
at once n[)on the news reaching Philadelphia, resolved "to asso- 
ciate together to defend with arms their property, liberty and 
lives against all attempts to deprive them of it," and forthwith 
oro'anized into companies, which at once .set to work. Four 
of the companies thu.s formed were called " The Greens," and 
of one of these Lambert Cadwalader was chosen captain. 

Before going into actual service, he was still actively employed 
in public civil duties. His name is seen as one of the com- 
missioners on the bills of credit authorized by the Provincial 
Assembly. He was re-elected to the Committee of Correspond- 
ence. And later in the year, the war began in earnest. 

Tiie Congress of Deputies called on Pennsylvania for four 
battalions. The Committee of Safety at once selected the officers, 
and Cadwalader's name headed the list of those sent in on the 
3d of January, 1776, for lieutenant-colonelcies. The appoint- 
ment was promptly confirmed, and he was attached to the battalion 
commanded by Colonel Shee. Of the three others, that which 
served with Slice's was commanded by Colonel Magaw. There 
were early difficulties as to recruiting, but towards .spring the 
two battalions were well filled, well armed and well officered, 
and constant and steady work made their drill and discipline 
exceptional. Graydon, a ca[)tain in Slice's battalion, .says, in his 



strikino- iiu'iiioirs, witli panlaiialilc jii'ldc, (liat in poinl of all 
exteriors by whidi militai'v corps were lestci], "durs was on 
a footiiii:; with tlie most proiiiisiiii;- on the continent." 

It vvonld seoin that, whether Ironi liearsay or observation, tliis 
was i<nown to tiie eonniiandci'-in-ehief. For in Mav, Washiiio'- 
ton had K't't iiis iieadi|iiarters at Xew York on tlie visit to 
I'lniadeiphia t() wliiuh ( 'ong-ress siunnioned him, and on his re- 
turn, expeetino-, as he wrote to his i)rother, "a bioodv sinnmer 
in New York and Canada," he sent word to Congress on the lOtli 
of June, 1776 : " I submit [/. c, (|U(\stion] (lie propriety of keep- 
ing tiie two continental battalions under the command of Colonels 
Slice and Magaw at Philadelphia, when there is the greatest 
probability of a speedy attack upon this place from the King's 
troops." The suggestion was at once acted on by Congress, tlie 
battalion transported by water to Trenton, thence marched to 
Elizaiiethtown, and again transjjorted by water to New York. 
()n the LSth of Jiuie ( Jcneral Heath wrote in his diarv: "The 
Pennsylvania regiments, commanded by Colonels Slice and Ma- 
gaw, were arriving in the city. They have the appearance of 
fine troo()S." Tiiere they met a somewhat niotlev army, re- 
markable for "irregularity, want of discipline, bad arms and 
defective equipment in all respects." 

Meanwhile Washington ha<l determined upon the lines of 
defense. " I iiave been u|) to view the grounds about Kind's 
Bridge," he wrote to Congress on the 20th of June, " and find 
them to admit of several places well ealc^ulated for defense, 
and esteem it a jdaco of the utmost importance. I have ordered 
works to be laid out, and shall direct part of the two battalions 
from Pennsylvania to set about their erection immediately. I 
will add to their number several of the militia when tliev come 
in, to expedite them with all possible dispatch." 

In the last days of June, the battalions marched toward Kings- 
bridge, were placed under the command of General Milllin, and 
encamped on the site of the luturc Fort Washington, which they 



8 

were at once set to work to erect, under the direction of Colonel 
Rnfus Putnam as engineer. Here, for many weeks, they worked 
with the spade, with no great help, says Graydon, " to our 
improvement in tactics, which, nevertheless, was assiduously 
attended to. In the course of three weeks our labors had pro- 
duced immense mounds of earth, assuming a pentagonal form, 
and finally issuing in a fiirt of five bastions." But it had no 
ditch, casements, well nor barracks, no outworks except an in- 
cipient one to the north, it rerpiired no parallels to approach 
it, and at a short distance back of it there was ground at least as 
high. On the right bank of the Hudson, opposite and crowning 
the Palisades, was soon afterwards erected another work, at first 
called Fort Constitution and afterwards Fort Lee, and these two, 
together with a line of sunken hulks and clicraii.v-de-frhc, would, 
it was thought, command the river and prevent communication 
above and below. The heavy work, under the sun of a hot, dry 
summer, and in clouds of dust, told hardly, and by August 
scarce half the troops were fit fi)r duty. But tiiose who were 
so, wore very fit. "General iSIifflin,'' wi'ites Heath to \\'ashing- 
ton, on the 17th of that month, " has about five hundred men 
at a moment's notice to aid you in case of need. They were the 
last evening drawn out, when I reviewed them. They are of 
Colonel Slice's and Magaw's regiments, and the best discijilined 
of any troops I have yet seen in the army." 

Within ten days they were sent tor in haste. Washington 
was fighting the battle of Long Island, which was not ooino- on 
well. An urgent messenger commanded the immediate march 
of Slice's and Magaw's regiments to New York. When they 
reached it in the afternoon, the battle liad been lost and the 
firing ceased. Early in the morning of Wednesday, the 28th, 
Mifflin crossed the East river an<l reached the camj). "He 
brought with him," says Irving, " Shce's prime Philadelphia 
regiment and Magaw's Pennsylvania regiment; both well 
disciplined and eflicient, and accustomed to act together. They 



9 

wcro so iHucli reduced in iiiiiiihers, liuwevcr, l)y sickness, that 
tlicv did not Mmiiuiil in the wiiole fo more (iiaii eii;'lit liundred 
men." Willi tlieni came (Hover's Massaciiusctts rci^'iinent — 
Marbleiieuil lislienncn ami sailors, mostly. Cheers \v(>nt up as 
the detachment briskly marched alonn' the line and was jiosted 
on the let'l of the ]>rooklvn intrenchments extendinn' to the 
Wallaliout. 

A dismal day and nii;'ht followed, with a dri/.zlini;' rain, 
no shelter, tire nor cooked food. All that iii<2;ht Washington 
waked, and he and Miftiiu went the rounds, for the enemy 
had, at evening, encamped in front of oiu' works, and in the 
nigiit broke grotuxl within a few hundred yards of them. 
By daylight of Thiu'sday, Washington saw the intention to force 
his lines by regular approaches, and then, confiding only in 
JlilUin, issued through him two orders lor water transportation. 

Later in the day, all having been arranged for the I'etreat, a 
council of war was called, and Miftlin, as had been arranged, 
proposed it. Though ignorant of what liad been alreadv done, 
it was unanimously approved, and ]MilHiu claimed from Wash- 
ington his promise that if a retreat should be agreed upon lie 
should command the rear, and if an attack, the van. All day 
there had l)een incessant skirmishinir. After dark the regiments 
were, to their amazement, ordered to be ready to attack the 
enemy that night, ^yorn out an<l dispirited, their arms well 
nigh useless from rain, many hastily made nuncupative wills as 
they got underarms. Mifiliu's men were to remain at the lines 
to cover the retreat. By eight o'clock the embarkation com- 
menced. Glover's regiment manning tlu; boats. The rawest 
troops were first sent off, ami all night Washington watched the 
embarkation. Some time befbi'c dawn, in his anxiety he sent to 
hasten all the troops that were mi thcvKirdi. The aid blunder- 
ed, and gave the order to ■\Iilllin also. Pickets and sentinels 
were hastily called in, and down came the covering j)arty towards 
the ferry. "Great God, General Mifllin," cried Washington, "I 



10 

;im afraid you luive ruined us l)y so unseasonably witiidrawing 
the troops from thi; lines!" '.'I did it by your order!" lie 
retorted. The mistake was soon seen, and the command hastily 
resought the lines which had been left uneovered nearly an 
hour. "The order to resume their posts," says Bancroft, " was 
a trying test of young soldiers; the regiments wheeled about 
with precision, and recovered their former station before the 
enemy ])erceived that it had been relinquished." Nearer dawn, 
a heavy sea-fog rolled in, shrouding the British camp. At last 
all but the covering party and Wasiiington himself had em- 
barked. He was the last of all to leave. The fog lifted and 
the enemy rushed in, but the retreat had becu effected. This 
was on the morning of Friday. 

Next day, Mifflin's detachment marched beyond Kingsbridge 
towards the Sound. While here, Colonel Shee went home on 
leave of absence and did not return. The Third Battalion, 
originally enlisted for a single year, in October re-enlisted tor 
the war, and was called the " Fourth Regiment of Foot in the 
Army of tlie United States," and Cadwalader, who had been in 
command since Shee had left, was, on the 25th of October, 
commissioned its colonel. 

Before this, the battalion had been marched to its old 
ground at Fort Washington, upon which deep interest was now 
beginning to centre. Early in the erection of the works which 
were to command the river — as far back as the 12th of .July and 
while Fort Lee was still incomplete — two English ships of war, 
the Phoenix and the Rose, had, with their tenders, run up the 
river with a fail' wind and tide, passed the forts with an exchange 
of fire and anchored in Tappan Bay. Here they lay until the 
18tli of the next month, when, after a gallant attack on 
them by fireships, they ran down the river, passed the batteries 
without material harm, pushed through the obstructions where 
the passage was still open, and joined the fleet below. Again 
upon the 9th of October, three ships with their tenders stood 



11 

lip the I riiilsdii, received a brisk tire IVdiii hotli Forts Ijcc ami 
W:isliiiit;'toii, anil passed l)eyi>iid in safely. The niortilieatiiiii 
was i;'reat. At once Congress instructed \\'asliini;ton, " by every 
art and at whatever exj)eMse," so to obstruct tiiu river as to pre- 
vent the regress of tiiese vessels or tiieir receiving succor from 
below. Then came a conncil of war on the IGth. There was 
miieh discussion — it was conceded that the works iiad proved 
insufficient — it was thought impossible to prevent comnuinieation 
being cut otf, of which the result must either be to tight at all 
disadvantages, or to surrender at discretion — but the order of 
Congress seemed imperative, and it was agreed that Fort Wash- 
ington should be retained as long as possible. Accordingly, 
Washington's solemn instructions to Magaw were to defend it to 
tlie last extremity. 

Eleven (hiys after, two frigates moved up from below towards 
the fort, while Lord Percy's troops appeared on Harlem Plains, 
and both opened fire. The ships were driven back by the guns 
from l)oth shoi-es, and the troops by the garrison at Fort Wash- 
ington. The belief of Green and Lee and Piituani in the strength 
of the works increased, aud the former, at: Putnam's earnest 
request, strengthened the garrison, at first by a i'ew hun- 
dred men, and, a few days after, by the Maryland rifle regi- 
ment. But from the first Washington had not been deceived 
cither as to the possibility of the forts successfullv commanding 
the river, or of tlieir own defciise from an attack ])roperlv eon- 
ducted. And he was now, from Howe's movements, sure that 
tiie latter was intended. As it was Congress who had ordered 
Fort Washington to be held, so to Congress he wrote on the 6tli 
of November, his belief that " the enemy would bend their force 
against Fort \\'a>liiiigton and invest it innindiately." xVlmostas 
he wrote, three vessels — a frigate and two transpoi-ts — passed the 
obstructions with supi)lies for Howe's army above. And then, 
on the 8th, Wasiiington wrote to Green the well-known letter: 
"The passage of the three vessels up the North river is so plain 



12 

a proof of tlie inefficiency of all tlie obstructions tlirown into it, 
tiiat it will fully justify a change in the (lisjiosition. If you can- 
not prevent vessels from jxissinj;' up, and the enemy are possessed 
of the surrounding country, what valuable purpose can it answer 
to attempt to hold a post from which the expected benefit cannot 
be had? I am, therefore, inclined to think that it will not be 
prudent to hazard the men and stores at Mount Washington, but 
as you arc on the spot, I leave it to you to give such orders as 
to vacating Mount Washington as yon may judge best, and so 
far revoking the order given to Colonel Magaw to defend it to 
the last." 

Green drew from this letter an oj)tion which its writer never 
intended, and when Washington, after his visit to the High- 
lands, returned on the IStli to Fort Lee, he found, to his sur- 
prise and griet', that Fort Washington, instead of being evacu- 
ated, had been reinforced. And it was then too late. Two 
nigiits alter, thirty gunboats passed undiscovered up the Spuy- 
tea Duyvel creek, and on the 15th, Howe summoned the 
garrison to surrender, with a threat of no quarter in case of 
refusal. Magaw may have been deficient in judgment (for he 
had, before this, assured Green that the fort could stand a siege 
till December), but he was not in bravery, and retorted that he 
would defend his post to the very last extremity. He had about 
three thousand men, of whom the fort itself would hold less 
than a third, and the whole line of defense extended from south 
to north about two miles and a half. The heisrhts to the north 
were to be defended by the Maryland regiment. Magaw was 
at the fort, with a small reserve, and the lines to the south were 
intrusted to Cadwalader with the two Pennsylvania I'egiments. 
They numbered together less than eight hundred men. 

Howe had planned four separate and simultaneous attacks — on 
the north, aud the main one, by Knyphausen and the Hessians, 
who, though nearest the fort, were separated by rough and 
wooded ground — the secoud, by four battalions under General 



1:5 

Matthew, wlio was to cross the Harlem river in llat-boats and huul 
on the riji'lit ot'tlie fort — tlie third, intended as a feint, hy Colonel 
Sterling; with the Forty-seei)iid I [ii;hlanders, who were also to 
cross tlie Harlem and land to the left of the lines, and tin; 
fotn'th, by Percy and his English and Hessian troops, on the 
south. 

" Howe," writes Crraydon, " must have had a perfect knowl- 
edge of the ground we occupied. Tliis he might have acquired 
from hnudriMls in New York, hut he might iiave Ijeen more 
thoroughlv informed ol' everything ilesirable to be known from 
one Dement, jiu otiieer of Magaw's battalion, who was intelligent 
in points of duty, and deserted to tlie enemy about a week before 
the assault." Save an intimation to this effect in one or two 
of tlie (Jermau aeeounts, this has |)assed niniotlced bv history; 
but Mr. de Laneey's recent research has shown that the traitor 
who deserted on the 2d of Noveml)er, had tiuaiished Percy 
with plans of the fort, and full information as to the numbers 
and disposition of the garrison. 

About noon of the 16th the attack was nia<le. Knyphausen 
iiad hard work. The fight on the wooileil heights was severe, 
and again and again he was driven back. [Meanwhile, Matthew 
crossed the river, landed in saii'ty, climbed the hill, stormed 
the battery, drove back our troops to the fort, and ti'ied to cut 
off Cadwalader, who was between liimself and Percy. Percy's 
attack was made with two brigades, and their numbers drove 
in an advance post defended by but twenty men. (_'adwalader 
held him in cheek for an hour and a half, thougli greatly out- 
numbered. Both sides were fighting under the eyes of their re- 
spective commanders-in-ciiief, for Howe was him.sclf present with 
Percy's troojos, and Washington watched the fight from the op- 
posite side of the Hudson. "Nothing encouraged him more," 
says Ii-ving, "than the gallant style in which (Jadwalader, with 
an inferior force, maintained his position." " It gave me great 
iiopes," he wrote to T'ongress that night, " the enemy was entirely 



14 

repulsed." But, nieauwliilo, Howe ordered Sterliug witli tlie 
Highlanders, supported by two battalions of the second brigade, 
to land in rear of Cadwalader's lines and convert his feint into a 
real attack. vVccordingly he crossed the Harlem, and, as he was 
.seen to approach, Magaw from near the fort, and Cadwalader 
from below, each detached about a hundred and fifty men, — all 
that could be spared in the unequal contest. Magaw's detach- 
ment did not arrive in time, and Cadwalader's, under Ca])tain 
Lenox, had, unassisted, to op])osc the landing. The fight was 
severe at the water's edge, but the Highlanders, though near a 
hundred men were killed and wounded in their boats, made good 
their landing, and fought their wav to the to[) of the hill. When 
their guns were heard by Percy, he again attacked. Sterling, 
seeing the enclosed bastions of the second line, now entirely nn- 
tlefended, hesitated. Cadwalader took advantage of the delay, 
and retired towards the fort with the main body of his com- 
mand, Percy f )llowing his retreat. He made his way back, but 
found the fi)i't crowded with men, fir Knyphausen had just won 
his fight and reached it from the north, driving back the de- 
fenders. As they still poured in, Magaw and Cadwalader in 
vain tried to rally them. The crowd and confusion in so cramped 
a space defied discipline, and just then Knyphausen sent in a 
summons to surrender. Half an hour's grace was all that was 
accorded. During it, a daring messenger brought word from 
Washington that if they could only hold out till night, he would 
then try to bring them off; but it was too late, and soon " the 
siii'ht of the American flair haided down and the British fla"- 
waving in its ]ilace, told Washington of the surrender." 

The loss in killed and wounded was surprisingly small, but the 
prisoners numbered nearly three thousand, half of whom were 
good soldiers. The reverse was the worst which had yet befallen 
the cause. "And," as Washington wrote to his brother, "what 
adds to my mortification is that this post, after the last ships 
went past it, was held contrary to my wishes and opinion, 



_AJi 



15 

as I conceived it to he a iiazardous one," and if, as some 
iiave thought, it is still one of tiie unsettled problems of 
liistorv whether tlie tort should have been abanih)ned or de- 
fended, this is chiefly owing to the magnanimity of the com- 
mander-in-chief, wiio, in Bancroft's language, "took the teach- 
ings of adversity without imbibing its bitterness, and never 
excused himself before the world by throwing the blame on 
another." 

The captured garrison was marched off to New York, where 
Cadwalader at once received a return of a great kindness which 
his father, the doctor, had shown to General Prescott when a 
prisoner in Piiiladelphia, by being released without parole and 
sent home. He considered himself, however, under the honor- 
ary obligation to procure the release of some rither officer of e(juid 
rank before again taking up arms, and this was for long a source 
of" great trouble to him. There were those who, without knowing 
the e.xact fiicts, thought that no such obligation existed. It was 
natural that the English should think he could not serve, but 
officers of high rank wlioin he consulted on our side agreed in 
this, and tinally the mtitter was laid before tlie conunander-in- 
chief, who gave him authority to request General Prescott to 
name some officer of equal raids with whom he could be ex- 
changed. But just then came the general order issued in retalia- 
tion for the treatment of General Lee by the enemv, that no 
field officer be released at all. Of course, its result was that 
he was forced to remain inactive, and linalh-, in January, 177!*, 
unable to serve himself, and unwilling to stand in the way of 
others' promotion, he resigned his commission. 



In the fimiliar ])olitical conflict which followed the Pennsyl- 
vania Constitution of 1776, Cadwalader took a prominent part. 
Some of its crudities excite sur|)rise at this day, and although he, 
and those who thought and acted with him, W(!re then unalile to 
obtain tlie alterations they wcirki'd for, yet the soundness of their 
judgment was shown by the short lift; of the system. 



1() 

In 1784, ho was elected a Deputy to tlie Continental Congress, 
and took his seat in January, 1785. He served through that 
and the two succeedins; Congresses, speaking little but working 
efficiently. Among otlier eoinniittees he was one of tiie Grand 
Committee! to wiiieh was referred the report of the Anna|)olis 
Commission, recommending the calling of tiie Federal Conven- 
tion, the result of whose delilierations is the present Constitution 
of the United States. 

Upon the adoption of lliis ( 'onstitution, Cadwalador was 
again eleeted as a Ilepresentativc trom New Jersey, and <in the 
4th of ^larcli, 1789, took his seat in the First Congress. lie 
again served in the Third Congress until IMareli, 1795, when 
lie retired finally from public life. 

In March, 1776, he had purchased what was [irobably (though 
the state of the records leaves the identity somewhat uncertain) 
a portion of the iine estate near Trenton which had fornicrly 
belonged to his father, and which the latter had sold on return- 
ing to Philadelphia. He called it "Greenwood," and here, after 
he left the army, he resided, dispensing largely the hospitality 
of the times — a virtue which he both inherited and transmitted — 
and where oneof hischiefest pleasures was to receive the repeated 
visits of Washington. 

Further of his domestic life it need only be said that in 1793, 
he married Mary, daughter of Archibald McCall, of Philadel- 
phia. He dieil on the l;5th of September, 1823, at his home of 
Greenwood, and was Iniricd in the old Friends' burying-ground 
at Trenton. He had but two childi'Cii, of whom one died young. 
The other survived him — the late Thomas Cadwalader — who, 
through a long and hajtpy life, both commanded resjiect and 
won affection, and at last, surrounded by "that which should ac- 
company old age, as honor, love, obedience, troops of friends," 
died on the Kith of October, 1S73, at the place which was his 
father's, and was buried by his side. 



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